Tick Control: Identify Common Ticks, Remove Them Safely and Protect Your Yard

You found a tick crawling on your arm, or worse, already attached. Ticks are small and easy to miss, and some carry diseases like Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Prompt removal and a few habits after time outdoors go a long way. This guide helps you figure out which tick you have, take it off correctly, make your yard less tick friendly and keep your pets protected.

How to identify common US ticks

Young ticks (nymphs) and adult females are the stages most likely to bite people, and nymphs are small enough to miss. These three species are among the most common biters in the United States.

Other ticks turn up in some regions, including the brown dog tick (which can live indoors in kennels and homes), the Gulf Coast tick, the Rocky Mountain wood tick and the Asian longhorned tick. A tick living in your area does not mean it is spreading disease there. If you want help with identification, your county extension office can often help. Start with our household insect identification guide if you are not sure the pest is a tick at all.

Signs of ticks

Ticks live in grass, brush and leaf litter and get onto people and animals that pass through. You might notice:

• A small dark speck that moves, on your skin, clothes or a pet.
• A tick attached to the skin, with its head buried and its body sticking out.
• Ticks on a dog’s ears, eyelids, neck under the collar, legs, between the toes or around the tail.
• Ticks indoors, usually carried in on pets, coats or bags.

Tick bites are easy to miss, so make full-body checks a habit after time outdoors.

Why ticks show up

Ticks live in grassy, brushy and wooded places, and in leaf litter at the edge of woods. Many people pick them up in their own yard or neighborhood. Deer and other animals carry ticks around, so a yard that wildlife visits often can have more of them.

How to remove a tick

Take it off as soon as you find it. Here is the method the CDC recommends.

1. Use fine-tipped tweezers. Regular tweezers or your fingers can work in a pinch, but try not to squeeze the tick’s body.
2. Grab the tick as close to the skin as you can.
3. Pull away from the skin with steady, even pressure. Do not twist or jerk, which can leave mouthparts behind. If part of the mouth stays in the skin and you cannot get it out easily, leave it. The skin usually pushes it out as it heals.
4. Clean the bite and your hands with soap and water, rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer.
5. Get rid of the tick. Put it in a sealed bag or container, wrap it tightly in tape, drop it in rubbing alcohol or flush it. Never crush a tick with your fingers.
6. Check the rest of your body for more ticks.

Skip the folk remedies. Petroleum jelly, nail polish, a hot match and similar tricks do not make a tick let go safely. They can irritate the tick and push more of its fluids into your skin. Tweezers and a steady pull are the right method.

Sending the tick to a lab for testing is generally not recommended. Results are not reliable enough to guide treatment, and a negative result can give false comfort.

When to see a doctor

See a doctor if you develop a rash or a fever in the several weeks after removing a tick. Tell them when you were bitten and where you likely picked up the tick, since the diseases differ by region and tick type. Do not wait for a tick test result before getting care if you feel sick.

How to prevent tick bites

1. Use repellent. Choose an EPA-registered product with DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE), PMD or 2-undecanone. Do not use OLE or PMD on children under 3. If you use sunscreen, put it on first and repellent second. Read and follow the label.
2. Treat clothing and gear with permethrin. A 0.5% permethrin product on boots, pants, socks and tents keeps working through several washes. You can also buy pre-treated clothing. Never apply permethrin to skin.
3. Stay in the middle of trails and avoid wooded and brushy areas with high grass and leaf litter.
4. Check your whole body after coming indoors: under the arms, in and around the ears, in the hair, inside the belly button, behind the knees, between the legs and around the waist. Check children the same way.
5. Shower within two hours. It can wash off ticks that have not attached and is linked to a lower risk of Lyme disease.
6. Tumble dry clothes on high heat for 10 minutes to kill ticks. If clothes need washing first, use hot water, because cooler water will not kill them.

The same repellents protect against mosquitoes, so see our mosquito control guide for more on choosing and applying them.

How to make a tick-safe zone in your yard

You will not get every tick out of a yard, but you can make the places your family uses much less inviting.

• Keep the lawn mowed and clear tall grass and brush from the edges of the lawn and around the house.
• Rake up leaf litter. It shelters ticks and the small animals that carry them.
• Put a 3-foot strip of wood chips or gravel between the lawn and the woods.
• Move swing sets, decks, patios and play areas away from yard edges and trees.
• Stack firewood in a dry spot.
• Fence out deer and other animals where that is practical.
• Clear out old furniture, mattresses and trash that collect in corners of the yard.

Yard insecticides can cut the number of ticks in the areas you treat, but the CDC advises against relying on spraying alone. Keep up the yard work either way. If you use a product, read and follow the label, check with local officials about any rules on applying pesticides, and see our guide to using pesticides safely.

Protecting dogs and cats

Dogs pick up ticks easily, and there are no vaccines for most of the tickborne diseases they can catch.

• Ask your veterinarian for a tick preventive suited to your dog and to the diseases common where you live.
• Never put a tick product on a cat without asking your vet first. Cats are very sensitive to many chemicals.
• Check pets every day they spend time outdoors, especially the ears, eyelids, under the collar, the legs, between the toes and around the tail. Remove any tick right away with the same tweezer method.
• Watch for changes in behavior or appetite for a few weeks after a bite, and call your vet if you notice any.

Pets that bring in ticks often bring in fleas too. Our flea guide covers treating the pet, the house and the yard together.

When to call a professional

Personal protection and yard cleanup are DIY jobs, and for many homes they are enough. A licensed pest control company is worth calling if:

• You keep finding ticks on family members or pets after mowing, clearing leaf litter and adding a wood chip border.
• Your property backs onto woods or fields with heavy deer traffic.
• You find ticks breeding indoors. The brown dog tick can set up in homes and kennels, and that infestation can call for professional help along with veterinary care for the dog.
• You would rather not apply yard insecticides yourself.

A good service starts with an inspection of your yard for tick habitat, such as the woods’ edge, brushy borders and leaf litter, and should come with advice on yard changes, since spraying alone is not enough. Before you sign up, ask:

• Are you licensed to apply pesticides in this state?
• Which areas will you treat, and why?
• What is the active ingredient, and can I see the label before you apply it?
• When will you treat, and how many visits do you recommend?
• How long should children and pets stay off treated areas?
• What will you do to protect pollinators and nearby water?

Our guide to choosing a pest control company explains licensing, contracts and red flags. Pest control costs helps you compare one-time treatments with seasonal plans.

Tick questions

Should I save the tick? You do not need to send it for testing, since results are not reliable enough to guide treatment. Note the date of the bite and where you were, and tell your doctor if you get sick.

Can ticks live in my house? The brown dog tick can infest homes and kennels where dogs live. Other ticks you find indoors usually rode in on a pet, clothing or a bag, so check all three after time outdoors.